Downtown Springfield IL Rotary recently became the first designated Rotary Peace Builders Club in our district. It took time but the rewards have been rich and promise to increase, as we grow partnerships with the International Rotary Action Group for Peace and like clubs around the world. Dr. Jim Applegate, co-chair of the club Peacebuilders Committee that spearheaded the work said, “what we discovered is that peace building work is at the heart of what Rotary is all about. We learned from groups across our community as we tackled tough issues like racism, homelessness, and financial literacy. We realized that the key to real change is partnership with these groups.”
Club President Megan Reynolds spoke to the value of the peace building work in this way, “As the President of the Rotary Club of Springfield-Downtown, I am immensely proud of our club for raising the bar for others as we embrace our designation as the first Rotary Peace Builders Club in our district. This journey has deepened our commitment to collaborative solutions, fostering partnerships that tackle pressing issues like racism and homelessness. We are excited to continue our work, not just building peace, but creating lasting change that resonates throughout our community."
At the outset the club wasn’t ready to jump feet first into a club designation, so it formed a peace builders committee. Over the last two plus years that committee met with community partners dealing with poverty, homelessness, racism, and other needs of neighbors who were struggling. Armed with that information we went through a series of exercises to prioritize our work, set goals, and identify partners. We knew in most cases our club would not be the “lead” dog. Others had more expertise and resources. But we could be a part of the solution team.
In another article the actual work Peace Building work done will be described in detail. Here the focus is on the lessons learned in making a successful Peace Builder CLUB.
- Create your projects from a base of knowledge that extends beyond your club. Your conversations with others will educate even the most veteran Rotarians about your community. Please do not just “come up” with an idea on your own that your club is totally comfortable with. It will not go as far or do as much good.
- Commit to partnerships, outside your comfort zone. Dealing with threats to community peace requires difficult conversations within and outside the club.
- Nothing should happen unless the club and your partners are totally on board.
- Prioritize. If you have five priorities, you don’t have priorities. Do so with the people/time/money resources the club and its partners realistically can commit.
- Report regularly to the club on the work. Build support, engage more members within and across clubs if there are more in your area.
- Never embark on a project until you are clear on what success will look like and agree on metrics to measure whether you are making progress toward that success.
It may sound like a lot of work, but it is fun and rewarding. On one of our projects with young African American men without fathers a veteran teacher called the experience “one of the most rewarding of her long career.” The comradery is real as are the benefits. Already, the work has helped us secure thousands of dollars in outside funding for peace building.
It is still early times. We look forward to attracting new (younger?) members, increasing external funding, expanding partnerships, connecting to global Rotary peace building resources, and making a difference in the problems that threaten the peace of our community. If Downtown Springfield Rotary can be of help, or you want to join us to see what is going on, contact our Peace Building Committee Chair, Dr. Jim Applegate, jameslapplegate@gmail.com.